As a result of that, the chiefs have set up a development council to champion the cause of development from the national kitty to the region.

[contextly_sidebar id=”oVYSPXA9HivQyhFEBKhJSSfI6I46cM1B”]Members of over 70 suburban and divisional chiefs, said the region has been stifled of development despite its huge contribution to national growth.

Divisional chiefs are the steering committee members of the council which has kicked-started its operations.

According to them they would continue to demand from government specific development projects within the framework of a proposed 20-year blue-print.

Bantamahene, Baffuor Owusu Amankwatia VI, who has been speaking to the issue, told journalists in Kumasi that, “they (chiefs) are appalled by poor road networks and general lawlessness in Kumasi.”

“It’s not fair that when you go Accra, what you see in Accra [and] you come to Kumasi and its diferent.”

Sometimes when somebody tells you that Kumasi is the second city after Accra, you don’t believe it. We had the chance to look at the road development for the whole of Ghana in terms of ratings when you start from the bottome, Kumasi is the number three,” he disclosed.

According to him, the chiefs were worried about what they said, was the widening development gab between Kumasi and Accra.

Asantehene, Otumuo Osei Tutu II, has designated two Thursdays in every month for council meetings.

Baffuor Amankwatia said, “Kumasi has suffered years of neglect despite playing a major role in national economic development agenda.”

“Seriously when you look at the resources that come from Kumasi [Ashanti Region], I don’t think we deserve that.”

“We produce cocoa, we produce timber; we produce gold and now we are going into bauxite so I believe that we deserve the fair share of the national cake,” he said.

According to Baffuor Amankwatia VI, chiefs in the region will, hence forth, demand and accept projects only if they meet expectation and requirement of Kumasi Development Council.

“Nananom [chiefs] are putting up a 20-year development plan; how we want Kumasi to look like in the next 20-years so that whatever development that we are going to do in Kumasi will follow that blueprint. It’s not going to be like we are doing a fly over then the government will come [and say] we can’t do the flyover so we are doing a small street for you here. No. Nananom are not going to accept it anymore.”

“If you can’t do the flyover, you stop it. That’s the only way that we can bring Kumasi to the level that it used to be,” added.

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Source: Today Newspaper

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Officers from the Ghana National Fire Service, the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), as well as the Police, responded to a distress call from traders who were in the collapsing structure.

The structure has since been barricaded and preparations are underway to evacuate properties from it.

Police have declared the place a danger zone, and have also cordoned off the entire area.

They have since blocked off the main stretch from the Asafo interchange to the Kumasi Central Market.

The owner of the building ,Fiifi Daniel, told Citi News that he suspects foul play.

According to him, some unknown assailants chiselled the main pillars holding the building.

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By: Hafiz Tijani/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Investigations begin into ‘collapsing’ Kumasi storey-building appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Cameroon and Ivory Coast were handed the right to hold future African Nations Cup finals as the Confederation of African Football sprung a surprise on Saturday and also named Guinea to host the continental championship.

Ghana is watching events at the Confederation of African closely as it looks to land the right to host Afcon 2017, too.

Five countries were bidding for the 2019 and 2021 finals with Cameroon chosen for 2019 and Ivory Coast for 2021 in a vote of the organisation’s executive committee.

CAF also decided to give Guinea the 2023 edition.

Cameroon were previous hosts in 1972 and the Ivorians in 1984 – when the Nations Cup was half the size of its current 16 team format – but Guinea have never before hosted the event.

Algeria and Zambia missed out but it is expected Algeria might be asked to take over from Libya as hosts of the 2017 event.

Libya last month stepped down as hosts because of the on-going civil strife in the north African country. That decision is expected later in the year.

Cameroon’s selection is a symbolic move as it will likely coincide with the departure from office of CAF’s long-standing president Issa Hayatou, who is from the central African country.

Cameroon’s bid was centred around four venues in Bafoussam, Douala, Garoua and Yaounde. The Ivorians plan to use five cities – Abidjan, Bouake, Korhogo, San Pedro and the capital Yamoussoukro.

Guinea’s bid promised to use Conakry, Kankan, Labe and Nzerekore as venues. Ironically the country is currently banned from hosting any international football by CAF because of the Ebola virus outbreak.

The next Nations Cup finals will be held in Morocco from January 17-February 8 next year.

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By: Gary Al-Smith/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has rubbished Guinea’s claims that they have been granted permission to play their 2015 Afcon qualifiers at home.

Reports emerged on Monday that the Guinea Football Federation said they had been cleared to host games again after the deadly Ebola outbreak led to a temporary ban.

Federation spokesman Blaise Camara was quoted as saying on Monday that Caf has lifted the embargo on games in the country, where nearly 500 people have died in the West African Ebola crisis.

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According to quotes, Camara said Guinea can now host the Black Stars in Conakry in its next Group E qualifier next month.

This would have been a relief to the country, as they had to move their first home game to neutral Morocco.

Caf’s statement: “Contrary to recent false claims disseminated by a section of the media, to create the impression that the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) has granted Guinea the green-light to host matches at home.

“CAF wishes to affirm that the circular dated 12 August 2014 which stated that Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone cannot host matches on their territories due to the Ebola outbreak still holds.

“It was mentioned in the circular that a new assessment of the situation will be discussed in mid-September 2014 in consultation with the World Health Organization and the CAF Medical Committee.

“The CAF Executive Committee is scheduled to meet on 19-20 September 2014 at the African Union (AU) Headquarters in Addis Ababa, to decide on further precautionary measures with respect to countries hit by the Ebola outbreak.”

Guinea will play Ghana in a double header scheduled for October 10 and 15.

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by Gary Al-Smith/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @garyalsmith

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Two of the continent’s five representatives at the tournament, Algeria and Nigeria, made it through to the second round, with Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Ghana, knocked out at the group stage.

Nigeria had finished as runner’s up to group winners Argentina with Algeria holding off Russia to progress behind Belgium.

It was the first time two African countries had progressed from the group stage at the World Cup finals.

CAF secretary general, Hicham El Amrani, attributed this to the fact that this was the first time African teams did not have to play in the AFCON, five months before the World Cup.

CAF in 2010 announced its decision to switch the timing of the tournament from even to odd years to address the issue of players potentially having to play in two major tournaments in the space of 5 months.

As such, the 2012 edition of the AFCON staged in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, and won by Zambia, was preceded immediately by another tournament in South Africa in 2013, which was won by Nigeria.

Nigeria and Algeria have since been knocked out of the tournament but Hicham El Amrani believes that CAF’s decision played a major part in their progression.

He said,”The fact that two teams made it through is a combination of various factors, one of which is CAF’s decision to change the Nations Cup from even to odd years.”

“This makes it impossible for African players to have two major events to play in the space of six months.”

Hicham El Amrani added that both federations had been contacted by CAF president, Issa Hayatou, to congratulate them on their performance in Brazil.

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post AFCON date change responsible for Nigeria, Algeria W/C performance – CAF appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.